A Monaco-based Russian social media influencer has sparked a political storm after her emotional appeal to Vladimir Putin went viral and led to a rare acknowledgement from the Kremlin of the issues plaguing ordinary people.
Victoria Bonya’s critique of the state of affairs in the country is being seen as a sign that Russia’s war on Ukraine is sparking discontent at home.
Ms Bonya clarified in the video that she supported Mr Putin but warned that he was being kept away from the ground reality by his officials.
“The people are afraid of you, artists are afraid, governors are afraid,” Ms Bonya said, adding that the regional governors do not fill in the Russian leader about the problems of the people. She said Russia is facing flooding in Dagestan, oil pollution along the Black Sea coast, culling of livestock in Siberia, and internet outages in several parts of the country.
The 18-minute-long video has since garnered 30.2 million views, more than 84,100 comments and over 117,000 reshares on Instagram.
“You know what the risk is? That people will stop being afraid, and they’re being squeezed into a coiled spring, and that one day that coiled spring will shoot out,” Ms Bonya said.
The influencer, however, did not acknowledge Russia’s role in the more than four-year-old war on Ukraine, nor did she directly target Mr Putin.
In an unusual move, Moscow on Thursday said that they acknowledged the criticism from Ms Bonya and that work was underway to address the grievances. The Kremlin, however, denied that Mr Putin was insulated from bad news.
The controversy has now spiralled as a Russian state television presenter and vocal supporter of Mr Putin’s war on Ukraine accused Ms Bonya of working for the West.
Vladimir Solovyov, a fiery talk show host sanctioned by the West over his vocal support for the war in Ukraine, launched a vitriolic weekend attack on Ms Bonya live on air, mixing personal insults about her appearance with accusations that she is part of a shadowy Western plot to undermine the Kremlin.
He also asked Russia’s top state investigator to check if her outburst had broken any laws. He accused her of being a part of a shadowy Western plot to undermine the Kremlin.
Ms Bonya has threatened Solovyov with a potential lawsuit for his attack on her on state television.
Ms Bonya, who has denied working for anyone but herself, called Solovyov “an enemy of the people” who should be taken off air. She said he was one of several state TV personalities who spoke about women in an unacceptable way.
“I want to ask a question to all of us women – when did we miss the moment when women began to be insulted on federal TV channels?” said the 46-year-old single mother, adding she was tired of women like herself being publicly dismissed as prostitutes or escorts.
“There are lots of mothers who bring up their kids on their own. By insulting me you insult them all,” she said.
Ms Bonya is a well-known face in Russia as a former reality TV star who has now shares videos about her own life and beauty tips, garnering over 13 million Instagram followers.
She also asked authorities to check whether the sometimes extreme language he uses in his broadcasts about various people and groups broke Russian law.
On Moscow’s streets, passers-by interviewed by Reuters mostly sympathised with Ms Bonya.
Nadezhda, a manager, said she believed any Russian – even if they were outside Russia – had the right to talk about their country.
“I didn’t like it that they started to insult her,” Nadezhda, a manager, told Reuters. “It seems absolutely wrong from people who have some kind of influence in society.”
A jokey new video, created with the help of artificial intelligence and viewed 10 million times in just 24 hours, showed her dressed in a Spider-Man outfit firing a web at Solovyov’s face and taking on two other outspoken male public figures she accuses of misogyny.
🚨 BREAKING: Watch the full clip here ➤
